(no subject)
So this is getting ridiculous and I'm going to start at the beginning of my missing reviews and at least try and write some kind of after the fact memories before I entirely forget what I've seen this year :-P
Back in June, on my birthday in fact, I went to see High Society at the Old Vic starring (amongst others) the ever fabulous Jamie Parker...
High Society @ Old Vic
They had the set in the round again for this and before it started the incredibly talented Joe Stilgoe got everyone in the mood with a bit of improvisation on the piano- he asked for suggestions and then included as many as he could. I mean after the fact I realised (and confirmed) that some of the suggestions were planted so there was a certain similarity each night but there were new songs too and it's the only time I've heard a pianist play In the Hall of the Mountain King and Teddy bear's Picnic in the same set <3
I realised part way through that I was being rather unfair to Rupert Young because he just felt wrong as CK Dexter Haven whereas what was actually happening was I've spent so long watch Bing Crosby in the role I'd forgotten he ought to be more or less the same age as Tracy! I guess when you're expecting Bing it's hard to live up to that but he did do a great job and Kate Fleetwood was wonderful as Tracy especially when she let her hair down and danced in the party scene- they had two pianos which rose from the floor and she danced on top of them and it was great! In fact probably the party scene was the best bit of the whole evening.
EXCEPT of course Annabel Scholey & Jamie Parker as Liz & Mike <3 Jamie really is spectacularly clumsy and he dropped the cat during Who Wants To Be a Millionaire which was a little hilarious but the point is he has such charm and talent that you forgive him all of that. As always I went away half in love with Liz Imbrie and wishing her success and that she'd fallen in love with someone more worthy (whilst also wanting her & Mike to be happy forever).
It did suffer from my love of the film, I just know it too well, but it was everythign I hoped it would be all the same.
Then there was Bugsy and Rules for Living both of which I did review (with my holiday in between which IDK if I ever did post about? Might try and find some pictures) and THEN...
The Trial @ Young Vic
I've never read Kafka's The Trial and my knowledge of it comes primarily via general knowledge of the term Kafaesque so I didn't really know what to expect? I'd heard the production was quite... innovative but it's Rory Kinnear and I'd watch him read the phonebook probably so it had to be worth a try!
They had K use a sort of baby language (made me think of Clockwork Orange? I think that's what I mean) for his internal monologue to separate it from when he was speaking and yes it was weird and not immediately easy to understand but it didn't take me long to get into it. What did distract me more was the set-one long conveyor belt that moved between scenes and sometimes kept going so I found myself debating the skill of the backstage people getting bits of scenery on and off it very fast! But it worked, I mean it's an obvious visual metaphor for the eternal bureaucracy that K gets tied up in but I liked it?
And I loved Rory, of course, he makes a great Everyman and as he struggled back and forth with the ridiculous demands of the trial and with his own conscience sometimes you sympathised and sometimes you didn't but it was very recognisable.
I also really enjoyed Hugh Skinner in his dual roles as a smooth but slimey colleague of K and then also as Block- almost unrecognisably.
The reviews were pretty awful and some people left during it but I found it interesting and bits of it have really stuck with me so I count that as a win I think?
The next missing review is for Pirates of Penzance which I saw for the *mumblecough* time because I will always watch the Union's All-Male G&S productions <3 SPEAKING OF WHICH who wants to go and see HMS Pinafore next year? (I do wish they'd go back to Patience or Iolanthe though not all these nautical repeats!)
Anyway it was an interesting day because it was my friend D's ordination (as a deacon) so there was the service in Southwark Cathedral and lots of people and then drinks afterwards and then everyone sort of left? And D was a bit unimpressed so he and I went and had burgers in Borough Market and maybe a pitcher of Pimms and then headed over to Hackney for the show but his dog collar came loose on the train so then I spent quite a while trying to figure out how the stud & it worked and it's amazing how nobody gives you strange looks for such things in London <3
Pirates of Penzance (All-Male) @ Hackney Empire
Oh dear... I think I might finally have run into a review I should REALLY have written at the time because I've seen this production so many times I'm struggling a little to remember this one rather than any of the previous incarnations!
I mean Alan Richardson was as fabulous as always as Mabel and I do still love his voice very very much. But. Whisper it very very quietly- he's getting a bit old as compared to the rest of the cast and when you have Alex Weatherhill as Ruth it does make for an interesting moment comparing the young and beautiful Mabel with the old and "ugly" Ruth because they're more or less the same age? IDK. I don't want to complain because I could listen to Alan sing forever but it's true!
Especially when they had a younger Frederick- Samuel Nunn (yes I had to look that up!) who I remember not at all which presumably means he was very good but not brilliant? IDK if anyone else can remember more.
What else? Neil Moors made a great Pirate King and I very much enjoyed him, Alex & Samuel singing A Paradox (see I can too remember him a bit!)
The sisters were brilliant of course. I do love Richard Edwards, Dale Page, Chris Theo Cook et al. very very much and I think their comedy timign is getting better without becoming ridiculous which is very pleasing.
I just LOVE this production and the whole idea behind it so much, Iolanthe might be basically my favourite production of all time but Pirates is always fun and enjoyable and, yes, I will keep watching it as long as they keep producing it!
How many more can I do? I'm doing these in 5 minute breaks in between fighting a "progress report" for a grant, writing a volunteer job role specification & advert and a handful of other thrilling tasks of that nature. I guess I'll keep going till it's home time! (Early today because I have to drop some prints off to be framed)
SO. Apparently I somehow haven't even written a single Globe review this summer /o\ I mean it hasn't been the most inspiring season ever but there have been plenty of wonderful moments throughout.
(she types and then has to review one of the "problem plays" but there were still good bits in this even with it being a stupid play in many ways)
Measure for Measure @ Shakespeare's Globe
I've actually seen M4M at the Globe before, an all-male production in 2005 (oh dear god was it 10 years ago!?) my review for it mostly is an anthem to Ed Hogg and Michael Brown being amazing and beautiful and then more amazing again as ladies and very little about the play (at least that's what I remember writin, I'm a little afraid to look).
The big question with the play is over what on earth the Duke thinks he's playing at? I mean he tells us but it's not very satisfying and productions have had the Duke everywhere from a relatively good man genuinely trying to find a solution (even if it's a dumb one) to an out and out villain, creepy and awful and disturbing.
What was interesting about Dominic Rowan is I sort of got the feeling that his Duke didn't have any idea what he was doing. he'd had this plan, which he thought was very clever, but then when he comes back and sticks his nose in and everything starts to unravel there was a definite feeling that he was making things up as he went along? Which does at least somewhat mitigate the more ridiculous elements? Not enough though.
The main strength of this production was of course Mariah Gale. She really was breathtaking as Isabella and when Angelo attacked her my heart was in my throat and then at the end when she thought her brother was dead and I was barely a metre from her face as tears trickled down her cheeks my heart broke for her.
BUT leaving aside the heavier sside of the play the thing the Globe always does is bring out the humour and of course in a play like this that can be problematic because awful things are happening and it's not funny but, for me, the humour at the Globe just pointed up the awfulness even more and OH they did have fun with the humour. We started with little bawdy houses in the yard rocking wildly with prostitutes & customers chatting to everyone and Trevor Fox having far too much fun as Pompey. And then kept up the comedy of that side- Brendan O'Hea played Lucio as a complete dandy and fashionable gentleman and watching the Duke get ever more frustrated with him was just beautiful.
It's a weird play, it can go in so many directions and whilst it has beautiful writing and moments in it I always watch tensed up waiting for the audience to react in a bad/weird way or waiting for the play to downplay (or overplay) Isabella's pain and the attempted rape etc. I was glad I saw this production though and I certainly preferred it to the Young Vic production I saw later AND they even kept the proper ending here- the proposal and Isabella's lack of answer (stunned is basically the emotion Mariah went for I think).
Not a Globe classic but good all the same.
You know what, I think 4 reviews in one post is enough for now! Theoretically I'm not at the theatre again till next Friday anyway so I should have more time to catch up (I say theoretically, you never know :-P)
Back in June, on my birthday in fact, I went to see High Society at the Old Vic starring (amongst others) the ever fabulous Jamie Parker...
High Society @ Old Vic
They had the set in the round again for this and before it started the incredibly talented Joe Stilgoe got everyone in the mood with a bit of improvisation on the piano- he asked for suggestions and then included as many as he could. I mean after the fact I realised (and confirmed) that some of the suggestions were planted so there was a certain similarity each night but there were new songs too and it's the only time I've heard a pianist play In the Hall of the Mountain King and Teddy bear's Picnic in the same set <3
I realised part way through that I was being rather unfair to Rupert Young because he just felt wrong as CK Dexter Haven whereas what was actually happening was I've spent so long watch Bing Crosby in the role I'd forgotten he ought to be more or less the same age as Tracy! I guess when you're expecting Bing it's hard to live up to that but he did do a great job and Kate Fleetwood was wonderful as Tracy especially when she let her hair down and danced in the party scene- they had two pianos which rose from the floor and she danced on top of them and it was great! In fact probably the party scene was the best bit of the whole evening.
EXCEPT of course Annabel Scholey & Jamie Parker as Liz & Mike <3 Jamie really is spectacularly clumsy and he dropped the cat during Who Wants To Be a Millionaire which was a little hilarious but the point is he has such charm and talent that you forgive him all of that. As always I went away half in love with Liz Imbrie and wishing her success and that she'd fallen in love with someone more worthy (whilst also wanting her & Mike to be happy forever).
It did suffer from my love of the film, I just know it too well, but it was everythign I hoped it would be all the same.
Then there was Bugsy and Rules for Living both of which I did review (with my holiday in between which IDK if I ever did post about? Might try and find some pictures) and THEN...
The Trial @ Young Vic
I've never read Kafka's The Trial and my knowledge of it comes primarily via general knowledge of the term Kafaesque so I didn't really know what to expect? I'd heard the production was quite... innovative but it's Rory Kinnear and I'd watch him read the phonebook probably so it had to be worth a try!
They had K use a sort of baby language (made me think of Clockwork Orange? I think that's what I mean) for his internal monologue to separate it from when he was speaking and yes it was weird and not immediately easy to understand but it didn't take me long to get into it. What did distract me more was the set-one long conveyor belt that moved between scenes and sometimes kept going so I found myself debating the skill of the backstage people getting bits of scenery on and off it very fast! But it worked, I mean it's an obvious visual metaphor for the eternal bureaucracy that K gets tied up in but I liked it?
And I loved Rory, of course, he makes a great Everyman and as he struggled back and forth with the ridiculous demands of the trial and with his own conscience sometimes you sympathised and sometimes you didn't but it was very recognisable.
I also really enjoyed Hugh Skinner in his dual roles as a smooth but slimey colleague of K and then also as Block- almost unrecognisably.
The reviews were pretty awful and some people left during it but I found it interesting and bits of it have really stuck with me so I count that as a win I think?
The next missing review is for Pirates of Penzance which I saw for the *mumblecough* time because I will always watch the Union's All-Male G&S productions <3 SPEAKING OF WHICH who wants to go and see HMS Pinafore next year? (I do wish they'd go back to Patience or Iolanthe though not all these nautical repeats!)
Anyway it was an interesting day because it was my friend D's ordination (as a deacon) so there was the service in Southwark Cathedral and lots of people and then drinks afterwards and then everyone sort of left? And D was a bit unimpressed so he and I went and had burgers in Borough Market and maybe a pitcher of Pimms and then headed over to Hackney for the show but his dog collar came loose on the train so then I spent quite a while trying to figure out how the stud & it worked and it's amazing how nobody gives you strange looks for such things in London <3
Pirates of Penzance (All-Male) @ Hackney Empire
Oh dear... I think I might finally have run into a review I should REALLY have written at the time because I've seen this production so many times I'm struggling a little to remember this one rather than any of the previous incarnations!
I mean Alan Richardson was as fabulous as always as Mabel and I do still love his voice very very much. But. Whisper it very very quietly- he's getting a bit old as compared to the rest of the cast and when you have Alex Weatherhill as Ruth it does make for an interesting moment comparing the young and beautiful Mabel with the old and "ugly" Ruth because they're more or less the same age? IDK. I don't want to complain because I could listen to Alan sing forever but it's true!
Especially when they had a younger Frederick- Samuel Nunn (yes I had to look that up!) who I remember not at all which presumably means he was very good but not brilliant? IDK if anyone else can remember more.
What else? Neil Moors made a great Pirate King and I very much enjoyed him, Alex & Samuel singing A Paradox (see I can too remember him a bit!)
The sisters were brilliant of course. I do love Richard Edwards, Dale Page, Chris Theo Cook et al. very very much and I think their comedy timign is getting better without becoming ridiculous which is very pleasing.
I just LOVE this production and the whole idea behind it so much, Iolanthe might be basically my favourite production of all time but Pirates is always fun and enjoyable and, yes, I will keep watching it as long as they keep producing it!
How many more can I do? I'm doing these in 5 minute breaks in between fighting a "progress report" for a grant, writing a volunteer job role specification & advert and a handful of other thrilling tasks of that nature. I guess I'll keep going till it's home time! (Early today because I have to drop some prints off to be framed)
SO. Apparently I somehow haven't even written a single Globe review this summer /o\ I mean it hasn't been the most inspiring season ever but there have been plenty of wonderful moments throughout.
(she types and then has to review one of the "problem plays" but there were still good bits in this even with it being a stupid play in many ways)
Measure for Measure @ Shakespeare's Globe
I've actually seen M4M at the Globe before, an all-male production in 2005 (oh dear god was it 10 years ago!?) my review for it mostly is an anthem to Ed Hogg and Michael Brown being amazing and beautiful and then more amazing again as ladies and very little about the play (at least that's what I remember writin, I'm a little afraid to look).
The big question with the play is over what on earth the Duke thinks he's playing at? I mean he tells us but it's not very satisfying and productions have had the Duke everywhere from a relatively good man genuinely trying to find a solution (even if it's a dumb one) to an out and out villain, creepy and awful and disturbing.
What was interesting about Dominic Rowan is I sort of got the feeling that his Duke didn't have any idea what he was doing. he'd had this plan, which he thought was very clever, but then when he comes back and sticks his nose in and everything starts to unravel there was a definite feeling that he was making things up as he went along? Which does at least somewhat mitigate the more ridiculous elements? Not enough though.
The main strength of this production was of course Mariah Gale. She really was breathtaking as Isabella and when Angelo attacked her my heart was in my throat and then at the end when she thought her brother was dead and I was barely a metre from her face as tears trickled down her cheeks my heart broke for her.
BUT leaving aside the heavier sside of the play the thing the Globe always does is bring out the humour and of course in a play like this that can be problematic because awful things are happening and it's not funny but, for me, the humour at the Globe just pointed up the awfulness even more and OH they did have fun with the humour. We started with little bawdy houses in the yard rocking wildly with prostitutes & customers chatting to everyone and Trevor Fox having far too much fun as Pompey. And then kept up the comedy of that side- Brendan O'Hea played Lucio as a complete dandy and fashionable gentleman and watching the Duke get ever more frustrated with him was just beautiful.
It's a weird play, it can go in so many directions and whilst it has beautiful writing and moments in it I always watch tensed up waiting for the audience to react in a bad/weird way or waiting for the play to downplay (or overplay) Isabella's pain and the attempted rape etc. I was glad I saw this production though and I certainly preferred it to the Young Vic production I saw later AND they even kept the proper ending here- the proposal and Isabella's lack of answer (stunned is basically the emotion Mariah went for I think).
Not a Globe classic but good all the same.
You know what, I think 4 reviews in one post is enough for now! Theoretically I'm not at the theatre again till next Friday anyway so I should have more time to catch up (I say theoretically, you never know :-P)